The CW Developing Wonder Woman Origins TV Series AMAZON

Though a TV iteration of Wonder Woman failed to make it to series just last year, it looks like the character might be returning to the airwaves sooner rather than later. David E. Kelley filmed a Wonder Woman pilot for NBC early last year, but the network decided to pass on the project after getting a look at the full episode. Now it appears that the character could be resurrected on a more superhero-friendly network: The CW.

A Green Arrow TV series called Arrow debuts on The CW this fall and the network was home to the Superman origin series Smallville, and now it looks like they’re eyeing a similarly origin-centered approach to the Wonder Woman character. Hit the jump for more.

Per Vulture, The CW, Warner Bros. TV, and DC Comics are developing an origin story series called Amazon. Veteran TV and comics writer Allan Heinberg (The O.C., Grey’s Anatomy, Gilmore Girls) is handling the script. In addition to his episodic television work, Heinberg wrote the Young Avengers comics for Marvel, co-wrote a 5-issue arc of JLA, and even wrote for the Wonder Woman series, so he’s approaching the material from a comics-friendly standpoint.

The pilot is only in the development stage and The CW has made no firm commitments as of yet, but the plan is tackle the character in a Smallville-like fashion, centering on a young “budding superhero” rather than a fully formed character fighting crime. Warner Bros. is simultaneously developing a Justice League feature film that will include the character, but it’s unclear how that feature would affect the development of Amazon.

Moreover, a standalone Wonder Woman has been in development for years, with Joss Whedon famously trying in vain to get his film off the ground only to later prove himself to be a brilliant superhero movie writer/director with The Avengers. The most recent iteration of the Wonder Woman movie has Michael Goldenbergwriting the screenplay and Drive’s Nicholas Winding Refncircling the director’s chair, but that likely won’t move forward until after the release of the Justice League movie. In the meantime, I actually think this CW series is a swell idea. Heinberg is a talented writer who has experience writing strong female characters (on GG and The O.C.at least), and he certainly has comics cred.

Again, no firm commitment has been made to the production of the Amazon pilot, but hopefully Heinberg crafts an exciting draft that gets this thing moving.